TY - JOUR
T1 - Metabolic signature of cervical mucus in ewe breeds with divergent cervical sperm transport
T2 - a focus on metabolites involved in amino acid metabolism
AU - Abril-Parreño, Laura
AU - Druart, Xavier
AU - Fair, Sean
AU - Krogenaes, Anette
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2023, The Author(s).
PY - 2023/7
Y1 - 2023/7
N2 - Introduction: Cervical artificial insemination (AI) with frozen-thawed semen in sheep has yielded unacceptably low pregnancy rates. The exception is in Norway where vaginal AI yields non-return rates in excess of 60%, which has been attributed to the ewe breed used. Objectives and methods: This study aimed to characterise, for the first time, the ovine follicular phase cervical mucus metabolome, with a focus on the amino acid profile. Cervical mucus was collected from four European ewe breeds with known differences in pregnancy rates following cervical AI with frozen-thawed semen. These were Suffolk (low fertility), Belclare (medium fertility), Norwegian White Sheep (NWS) and Fur (both high fertility). Results: A total of 689 metabolites were identified in the cervical mucus of all the four ewe breeds. Of these, 458 metabolites were altered by ewe breed, which had the greatest effect in the dataset (P < 0.05). We detected 194 metabolites involved in the amino acid pathway, of which 133, 56 and 63 were affected by ewe breed, type of cycle and their interaction, respectively (P < 0.05). N-methylhydantoin and N-carbamoylsarcosine (degradation products of creatinine pathway) exhibited the greatest fold change decrease in the Suffolk breed compared to Fur and NWS (P < 0.001). Oxidized metabolites were also decreased in Suffolk compared to high fertility breeds (P < 0.05). In contrast, other metabolites such as 3-indoxyl-sulfate, putrescine, cadaverine were significantly increased in Suffolk at the synchronised cycle. Conclusion: The suboptimal amino acid profile in the cervical mucus of the low fertility Suffolk breed may have negative consequences for sperm transport.
AB - Introduction: Cervical artificial insemination (AI) with frozen-thawed semen in sheep has yielded unacceptably low pregnancy rates. The exception is in Norway where vaginal AI yields non-return rates in excess of 60%, which has been attributed to the ewe breed used. Objectives and methods: This study aimed to characterise, for the first time, the ovine follicular phase cervical mucus metabolome, with a focus on the amino acid profile. Cervical mucus was collected from four European ewe breeds with known differences in pregnancy rates following cervical AI with frozen-thawed semen. These were Suffolk (low fertility), Belclare (medium fertility), Norwegian White Sheep (NWS) and Fur (both high fertility). Results: A total of 689 metabolites were identified in the cervical mucus of all the four ewe breeds. Of these, 458 metabolites were altered by ewe breed, which had the greatest effect in the dataset (P < 0.05). We detected 194 metabolites involved in the amino acid pathway, of which 133, 56 and 63 were affected by ewe breed, type of cycle and their interaction, respectively (P < 0.05). N-methylhydantoin and N-carbamoylsarcosine (degradation products of creatinine pathway) exhibited the greatest fold change decrease in the Suffolk breed compared to Fur and NWS (P < 0.001). Oxidized metabolites were also decreased in Suffolk compared to high fertility breeds (P < 0.05). In contrast, other metabolites such as 3-indoxyl-sulfate, putrescine, cadaverine were significantly increased in Suffolk at the synchronised cycle. Conclusion: The suboptimal amino acid profile in the cervical mucus of the low fertility Suffolk breed may have negative consequences for sperm transport.
KW - Cervix
KW - Metabolome
KW - Microbiota
KW - Ovine
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85162198801&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s11306-023-02021-x
DO - 10.1007/s11306-023-02021-x
M3 - Article
C2 - 37338596
AN - SCOPUS:85162198801
SN - 1573-3882
VL - 19
SP - 59
JO - Metabolomics
JF - Metabolomics
IS - 7
M1 - 59
ER -